Game Review: Dead Rising 3 (Xbox One)

I waited for what I thought was a reasonable time to purchase an Xbox One. If there were bugs to work out, I like to think it would have happened by now. One aspect that Microsoft changed for the best, in my opinion, was selling a Kinect-less system which is the one I opened my wallet for. Since I have been part of the Xbox family since about 2006, I didn’t see a need to swap to Playstation only because it may have slightly better graphics. So, this game review is not going to harp on which system is best. It’s about my brief thoughts on the Xbox One and, of course, “Dead Rising 3,” the first game I played on the new system.

Xbox One

The first thing I noticed was how quiet the system is. If you have an old Xbox 360 like I do, it sounded like a jet taking off in your living room. That issue, and I thought it was kind of a big deal, is gone. The Xbox One barely purrs like a kitten. It’s that quiet. For that I am grateful because I no longer have to compensate on the volume of the game to make up for the Boeing 767 that was in my man room.

The user interface is a bit easier to navigate than the 360. When you logon, the system goes straight to the menu where you can swap between profiles much quicker. You can see all of your Xbox One options right in front of you, it’s easy to use, and responsive.

The graphics are an improvement, but not drastically like it was from the original Xbox to the Xbox 360. I pretty much thought that leap was revolutionary, but from the 360 to the One things are much more polished. Where you get your bang for your buck is that more things are happening on the screen at a better frame rate. Of course, I only have one game to compare things to, but on “Dead Rising 3” there are literally hundreds of zombies lurking about on-screen and the Xbox One supports all that action quite well.

Overall, I am not disappointed by my purchase. It’s not like I seriously considered switching to Playstation anyway. I know that gaming graphics tend to get better as the developers learn to maximize the system’s potential and I look forward to that. Things are strong now just seeing “Dead Rising 3” as my first sampling, so I look forward to what kind of games are released in the near future and coming years.

Dead Rising 3

I haven’t played “Dead Rising” or “Dead Rising 2.” Let’s face it, there are enough zombie games out there and based on my limited selection of Xbox One games, this seemed like a worthy choice especially since it is the kind of game I can play, put down, and get back to it later without having to remember too much what I need to do. The premise is pretty simple…survive. In order to do that, you play as the protagonist Nick Ramos. You are presented with a set of main missions represented by a yellow diamond on your map and side missions annotated with a blue diamond. Of course, the side missions are always helpful because they give you attribute points along the way so you can expand your inventory of weapons, increase your health bar, or learn new melee moves…to name a few.

The weapons provide the most joy in the game because of the ability to create combo weapons. Take a sledgehammer and a saw and what you end up with is a nasty zombie execution device. What makes the game interesting is the number of combo weapons Nick can create; it’s vast and in some cases ridiculous such as the massage launcher. What they call a massager, in real life, is only capable of massaging the interior walls of a human vagina. A game like this wouldn’t be complete without a weapon that launches those so-called massagers and stick them into zombies. Other combo weapons are simply devastating to the zombie uprising such as the boom-canon. I don’t think I need to paint a picture of what that does. I don’t know exactly off the top of my head, but there are approximately 150+ possible combo weapons Nick can create…give or take a few. The only way to be able to create new weapons is to find blueprints which are scattered across the map. What makes that aspect nice is when you open a blueprint, the weapons you need to combo are usually located right next to you.

Nick can also create combo vehicles which can be interesting. The most destructive being the roller hawg which is a combo between a steam roller and motorcycle. Rolling over zombies in the street certainly adds tick marks to the zombie death toll.

The side missions are mostly easy, but some require time. What was frustrating about these side missions was how asinine they could be; like taking a lady shopping…during a zombie outbreak? Really? Anyway, it’s all about gathering points for upgrade, so completing the side missions works to your advantage in the long run.

The open-world environments are nice and accessibility to vehicles makes getting around town easy and fairly quick. Though at times it seems like side missions and main missions are purposely set up across the map at great distances. I found that particularly annoying and time consuming.

As for the game ending, there are multiple scenarios that can play out depending on how long you take or what actions you decide upon during the game. One thing I didn’t like was that some people you save follow you around unless you jump in a car and ditch them. Then they automatically return to the safe zone. On a side mission I was playing, one such companion killed the zombies I was supposed to go get food for. Seems silly to feed the zombies, but that was what I was required to do, but my companion killed them on her own because they were zombies and nearby. So, I lost the upgrade points on those. From then on, I pretty much got in a car and left them.

The game can be played in single player mode or online multiplayer and online co-op. Overall, “Dead Rising 3” is gratuitous violent fun with a stable frame rate and offers numerous main and side missions to keep you busy. Will Nick fly out of the fictional city of Los Perdidos, California? It’s up to you and how you play the game.

Nice review. Glad you’re happy with your XB1. It does have some interesting things coming out for it in the future and I’m happy they backpedled on some of their asinine policies.

I generally enjoyed the Dead Rising series, with the first being enjoyable and the second an absolute blast even though it pretty much had the same faults you noted. I noticed the other day that DR3 got released on PC so I think I may give it a go. Sound like more brainless zombie smashing fun like the 2nd. I also so this DLC trailer that makes me want it even more. I actually think I want the DLC more than the core game, lol.